IA-03: Least inspiring campaign ever?

I planned to write several posts this fall about the third Congressional district race between Representatives Tom Latham and Leonard Boswell. Instead, every time I sat down to write about the campaign, I found myself turning to other topics. Central Iowa radio and television stations have been so over-saturated with cookie-cutter attack ads against both candidates. If a political junkie like me finds it off-putting, I can’t imagine how disengaged other people feel when they hear the beginning of yet another negative commercial.

Neither Latham nor Boswell has offered a compelling case for re-election, but after the jump I review the main messages from both campaigns and from various outside groups that have been advertising in Des Moines and Omaha.

The early voting numbers suggest that Boswell has small lead going into election day. As of November 3, county auditors in IA-03 had received 67,351 ballots from registered Democrats, 53,571 from Republicans, and 34,389 from no-party voters. I don’t understand why Latham didn’t spend more of his war chest on field organizers to turn out voters early across the district.

Latham’s message to voters

Latham has bought a ton of radio and television advertising time. In the spring and summer, he ran some positive commercials. For instance, “Iowa Common Sense.”

Transcript:

Male voice-over: How do you go from working in a family seed business in Iowa to fighting for Iowans at the highest levels?

Tom Latham grew up on an Iowa farm. He learned Iowa common sense and took it to Washington.

Tom’s working to help Iowa small businesses create jobs, and lower taxes for middle-class families. He’s fighting to stop the spending, voting against the wasteful stimulus and for a balanced budget. Tom Latham: one of us, fighting for us.

Latham’s voice: I’m Tom Latham, and I approve this message.

In contrast, this fall I’ve seen mostly negative advertising from Latham’s campaign. In early October, this spot used a bunch of unidentified “ordinary people” to explain why they’re supporting the Republican.

Latham’s voice: I’m Tom Latham, and I approve this message.

Footage of Boswell from the Iowa State Fair: Look at his record, look at my record, and you make your choice.

Younger man: If you take a look at the voting record, Leonard Boswell has voted with Nancy Pelosi the majority of the time.

Younger woman, with children swinging on a play set in the background: If we continue the spending, we will not be able to pass that American dream on to our children.

Older woman: Based on his votes, I don’t think Congressman Boswell is interested in cutting spending.

Second older man: He doesn’t support Iowa, he supports Washington, DC.

Central Iowans have heard this big spending, “Nancy Pelosi” line against Boswell many times before. I suppose it’s new to people in southwest Iowa, who weren’t in IA-03 before.

Other Latham ads have focused on allegedly excessive bonuses paid to Boswell’s staff.

Transcript:

Latham’s voice: I’m Tom Latham, and I approve this message.

Female voice-over: In the last four years, 11,000 Iowans have lost their homes. Thousands more have lost jobs.

But as Iowans played by the rules and struggled to get ahead, Congressman Leonard Boswell rewarded his government staff with more than a half-million dollars in bonuses. Bonuses as big as fourteen thousand dollars, paid for by Iowa taxpayers who didn’t have money to spare.

Boswell: He’s leading by misrepresentation at this moment. We all have to manage our own account. We have about the same account and so reflect over that time he’s talking about and we have actually turned back more than he has. I have a system where there’s reward for good work, there is incentive at the end of the year if you’ve met the criteria of incentives you’re going to get rewarded for it but overall he is paying an average of $500 a month for his people more which equates to $6000 a year. So this is misrepresentation and it’s unfortunate to have to do that but that’s not true.

I don’t understand why a Republican would be against hiring people at lower pay, with a chance to earn bonuses for hard work. But Latham clearly thinks this is a winning issue, because his campaign put up a BoswellBonus.com website and launched a 60-second radio ad on the topic a couple of weeks ago.

Iowans are learning more about the Boswell bonuses. America was struggling through the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Thousands of Iowans lost jobs and homes, while middle-class incomes declined. Seniors on fixed incomes were denied cost of living adjustments.

But in Congressman Leonard Boswell’s office, the good times rolled. From 2008 to 2011, career politician Boswell awarded his own staff more than a half-million dollars in taxpayer-funded in bonuses, some for more than $14,000.

Boswell was so generous with taxpayer money, he gave $700 billion to Wall Street, voting for the 700 billion-dollar TARP bailout. Boswell voted for the wasteful stimulus, and to add trillions in new debt.

But maybe Boswell’s most galling use of your money happened inside his own office, with the spending Boswell personally controlled. Under Boswell, good times rolled, while Iowans suffered.

Latham’s voice: I’m Tom Latham, candidate for Congress, and I approved this message.

During the candidates’ October 10 debate on KCCI-TV, Boswell came out for raising the gasoline tax in order to pay for road and bridge repairs. Latham seized on that comment for his closing tv ad, launched on October 30.

Transcript:

Footage of Boswell from the Iowa State Fair: Look at his record, look at my record, and you make your choice.

Female voice-over: Boswell’s record. Half a million dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses for staff. Trillions in new debt. Now Boswell supports raising taxes on every Iowan.

Clip from Boswell at debate: Well, I think we’re gonna have to raise the gas tax.

Female voice-over: Tom Latham voted against the Wall Street bailout. He supports small businesses and cutting spending. The choice is clear: Tom Latham.

This ad is a cheap shot. There’s no proof Latham influenced the board of directors’ decision at his family’s bank. I think it would be worse if his family bank had benefited after Latham voted for the bailout.

Anyway, in October 2008 Boswell voted for the scheme that allowed banks to cash in “your tax dollars.” Why did he do that, if he thinks Latham’s family bank did a terrible thing?

Boswell’s campaign ran second version of this commercial too, focusing on the fact that Latham’s family bank is one of just three in Iowa that haven’t fully repaid TARP funds to the federal government. I don’t have the exact script, because I can’t find that video online. Again, there’s no evidence Latham was involved in decisions about how much TARP money to take, or when to pay it back.

During the final ten days of the campaign, Boswell has been running one negative spot and one positive one. The attack ad is called “Shakedown.”

Transcript:

Male voice-over: With Tom Latham, look at who wins, and who loses. The winners: big corporations who got tax breaks from Latham to ship Iowa jobs overseas.

The Latham family bank, who got millions of your taxpayer dollars.

And Tom Latham himself. Millions in special-interest donations, and profits from the family bank.

No wonder Latham’s six times richer since he came to Congress.

And who loses? Iowa and you.

Boswell’s voice: I’m Leonard Boswell, and I approve this message.

I think Boswell’s positive ad, “Joshua,” is ten times more effective.

Male voice-over: After two tours of duty as an air assault helicopter pilot, Leonard Boswell understands: no one gets left behind.

So when a young Iowa veteran tragically took his own life, Boswell grieved with the family and went to work.

Leonard fought for and passed the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention law, to save the lives of veterans suffering from PTSD. Because Leonard Boswell knows that even when you take off the uniform, you never hang it up.

Boswell speaks directly to camera: I’m Leonard Boswell, and I approve this message.

This is a fantastic ad in my opinion. Boswell is rightly proud of pushing for the Joshua Omvig law. Veteran suicides reflect our shameful failure as a country to address the health needs of Americans returning from war zones.

All along, Boswell should have been running more commercials on what he has done to help veterans and other constituents. By this late stage of the campaign, I’m not sure how many viewers are open to learning something new about him.

The national PAC for credit unions has run pro-Latham radio ads, while the National Association of Realtors Congressional Fund has paid for both direct mail and television commercials supporting Latham. But the bulk of outside spending in IA-03 has gone toward negative advertising.

The National Republican Congressional Committee stopped spending in IA-03 weeks ago. Perhaps they felt other groups had Boswell pretty well covered, or for some other reason they didn’t expect further spending here to move the needle. Anyway, here’s the ad they launched against Boswell in late September.

Male voice-over: In the twilight of a 25-year career, Leonard Boswell is ending in disgrace.

The Iowa press calls Boswell’s attack ads “cheap,” “personal,” “misleading,” and “not worthy of a candidate who has served his country.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Karl Rove’s group Crossroads GPS is running a version of a “Silly Spending” ad that’s airing in many Congressional districts.

Transcript:

Male voice-over: Congressman Leonard Boswell strongly supported President Obama’s failed trillion-dollar stimulus. Boswell’s vote sent nearly 2 million dollars to California to collect ants…in Africa. 25 million for snow-making in Vermont. Almost 300,000 to Texas to study weather…on Venus. While here in Iowa, over 32,000 have lost their jobs.

Boswell should have been helping Iowa. It’s time for Leonard Boswell to lose his job. Crossroads GPS is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Boswell voted for the stimulus, both bailouts and a giant national energy tax.

Boswell voted for higher income taxes four times. Higher death taxes three times. And 300,000 dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses for his own personal staff.

After 15 years in Washington, Leonard Boswell can’t stop spending. Too much, too long. It’s time for him to go.

Congressional Leadership Fund is responsible for the content of this advertising.

I realize I’m not the target audience, but to me this ad is boring and repetitive. People against the “death tax” and alleged “energy tax” weren’t ever considering voting for Boswell.

Only three organizations have spent a significant amount of money on advertising against Latham. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has had ordinary people rather than professional voice-overs deliver the messages in its commercials this fall. Lynne Carter of Winterset, who worked in human resources for 12 years, narrated “Devastating,” which went on the air in late September.

Transcript:

When our jobs were shipped overseas, some people were literally left out in the cold. No retirement, no health benefits to go forward. And I was even forced to train our replacements from India — it was devastating.

I’ll never understand why Congressman Latham voted to keep giving government contracts to companies that outsource our jobs. Or why he takes contributions from them. Congressman Latham has no idea what we’re going through.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Randy Parcell of Winterset starred in the DCCC ad “Burns,” which went on the air three weeks ago.

I worked there for over twenty years. I made American made parts — very proud of that. Paid into Medicare out of every paycheck.

But when I learned that Congressman Latham wanted to gut Medicare — basically do away with it … Burns me.

Without Medicare, I’ll have to work till the day I die. While Latham voted himself taxpayer-funded healthcare, for life. The guy just looks out for himself.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Voters have seen so many ads about Medicare this year. You either believe that Republicans would essentially end Medicare, or you don’t. I can’t imagine that many votes are going to change because of this ad.

Incidentally, it was entertaining to watch Latham’s campaign make fools of themselves claiming the the DCCC had used “actors pretending to be Iowans.” The charge was based on a misleading report on KCCI-TV. KCCI’s reporter should have done her homework before suggesting that Randy Parcell “didn’t exist” in Winterset. Only hours after Latham’s people and the Iowa Republican blog crowed that the star of the DCCC ad “didn’t exist,” a Des Moines Register report confirmed that Parcell does live in Winterset.

The House Majority PAC ran some commercials against Latham last winter, prompting a rapid response from Latham. The Democratic super-PAC recently returned to IA-03 with this ad. It has launched similar commercials against several House Republicans.

Transcript:

Young man: Next summer I’m going on a camping trip with my friends. On the way home I’ll be in a car accident, and I’ll be paralyzed for the rest of my life.

Woman: In 20 years I’ll have Alzheimer’s. I won’t recognize my husband or my kids.

Little girl: Next week my mommy and daddy are gonna find out I have diabetes.

Woman: This is Representative Tom Latham.

Girl: He’s running for Congress.

Young man: He voted against embryonic stem-cell research.

Woman: Is he a doctor?

Young man: Is he a scientist?

Woman: Why did Mr. Latham bet my life that he knows best?

Young man: Help me.

Girl: Help me.

Woman: Who knows? Maybe I’m your mother.

Young man: Maybe I’m your grandson.

Girl: Maybe I’m your little girl.

Woman: How do you know I’m not you?

Young man: Embryonic stem cell research could save lives. Maybe yours, or your family’s, someone you love. Only Congressman Latham said no.

Girl: How come he gets to decide who lives and who dies. Who’s he?

Male voice-over: House Majority PAC is responsible for the content of this advertising.

As someone who strongly disagrees with Latham’s stand on stem-cell research, I have to say, that’s a pretty manipulative commercial.

Any comments about the Boswell-Latham race are welcome in this thread.

IA 4

Yeah, it was bad....

That KCCI debate was the only one I saw….tried to watch, dozed off at the end.. Christie, and Braley to a lesser extent, picked Leonard’s pocket in IA-03..Latham 54-46.

Anybody else notice Loebsack didn’t get a shout out from BHO last night with the rest of the Congressional candidates? Mebbe I missed it. Saw Frank Cownie front and center with the Prez….IA-03 Democratic primary contender in 2014?

Cownie?

I can’t see Cownie as even remotely viable…he would be pounded with ads reviewing over and over again his failed leadership of Project Destiny (He was the one heading the public meetings and leading the charge), his promoting the utility tax theft from ratepayers, the support of diversion of parking ramp revenues, and the incredibly high property tax rates of Des Moines compared to his neighbors. (That is JUST the start).

He may run as we have seen plenty of trial balloons from his camp, but it will not be pretty.